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“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33)

Francis Chan once said, “Our greatest fear should not be failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter”. Whatever we do, we should do it well. A commitment to excellence is a good thing. However, too often is the case that we take this advice more seriously in the less meaningful matters in life than we do in the things that are most important.

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount was directed at the disciples and subsequently through them to the whole church. In this sermon, Jesus taught on various topics that dealt with outward actions as well as inward motivations. He set forth important principles throughout the sermon. In this specific section of the sermon, Jesus set forth principles for everyday life (Matthew 6:19-34).

God’s purposes are perfect, and His promises true. He will attend to our every need. If we focus on the things of this world as opposed to prioritizing our commitment to and relationship with Christ, ultimately it will bring not only dissatisfaction, but also anxiety and worry. This is a distraction from what our goal as believers should be, to keep Christ at the center of our lives. It is also inconsistent with what God would have for us.

We need to constantly take stock of what is keeping us from a deepening relationship with the Lord and a life that is committed to Him. What is keeping you from strengthening your relationship with the Lord and living out His will for your life? It may be something important or it may be trivial, but if it’s keeping you from time with Him, it’s an idol and needs to be put in its proper place. Ultimately, it’s God alone who can meet our needs. Sometimes, we just need to peel away other things for Him to do so.

So, what are you succeeding at that really doesn’t matter? What do you have too much of that if you looked closely you know you could do without? Or what is it that takes so much of your time that it leaves little time for Jesus? What are you willing to put aside so your priorities might be put in order? Search your heart and ask yourself, what am I willing to give up for the One who gave up everything for me?

“The mind of a man plans his way. But the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9)

A detour is a longer, less direct way to get where we’re going. Sometimes the detour is intentional, perhaps to visit something or someone. At other times, they’re unintentional, taken to help us avoid a problem and get us back on track as soon as possible. This is the sort of detour that frustrates us. It’s the kind that gets in the way of our plans and the course we’ve set for ourselves, the one where we lose control over things. And for many of us, that’s a problem.

I think most of us probably like to be in control. We make our plans fully intending they be carried out just as we devised them. But that doesn’t always happen. Providence is defined as God’s ongoing relationship whereby He is actively involved in His creation, though distinct from it. Providence denies things happen by chance but are instead divinely planned. Though a weighty and somewhat controversial doctrine, God’s providence is clearly affirmed in Scripture. One such passage is Proverbs 16:9, which simply teaches that all our actions are under God’s providential care.

Sometimes, God allows detours in our lives, some alternative route we never saw coming. The detour may be for no apparent reason at all, or it may be because we’ve strayed off course. Whatever the reason, they can be painful. I read a great quote that says, “God has His own way of getting His own way”. It’s true. Overlaying every choice we make is God’s hand. His providence often encroaches into our lives for reasons that He alone knows. John MacArthur says that as Christians, “rather than being content in the success of our plans, we need to find contentment in God’s sovereign, providential control. We need to remember that even when things don’t go our way, God is still on His throne, orchestrating events for His glory and our good”.

God has a plan for each of us. It might not be the plan we would have set for ourselves, but we can rest assured it’s a perfect plan. God knows what’s best and He often uses these detours as a way of rerouting us back into His will. The writer of Hebrews tells us these “detours”, these times of training serve an important purpose and are meant for our good (Hebrews 12:11). The choice we must make is whether or not we will be trained by them. Will we become better, or will we become bitter? God allows these challenging moments in our lives to teach us that we really don’t have control of things. He uses them to teach us that ultimately, all we have is Jesus. And the truth is, He really is all we need.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith…” (Colossians 2:6-7)

One thing this world counts on is that we know so little about Scripture and the truths of God that we will be captivated and carried away by varying worldviews regardless of how ungodly they may be. False teaching, influenced by Satan isn’t new. Satan has been influencing from the beginning, promoting lies all along the way. Since he can’t change our relationship with God, he will try anything to influence our fellowship with Him. The first question is, will we let him? The second is, how can we defend against it?

Satan often uses very subtle tactics to get us off course. That’s exactly what was happening when Paul wrote his letter to the church at Colossae. The people in the church weren’t denying Christ. They were dethroning Him in the sense that they were allowing false teaching that denied the sufficiency of Christ for salvation to take root in their lives. This false teaching was a mix between Jewish legalism (works-based salvation) and pagan mysticism (belief that knowledge of God is attained through subjective experiences). Both teachings denied the gospel of grace as Paul preached it. Salvation comes no other way than through Christ alone. Paul wanted those in the church to have a deep and abiding faith. He wanted their faith to have strong roots, as he believed this would help protect them from the influence of false teaching. He also knew it would take this kind of faith to encounter the ups and downs of the world in which they lived.

Too often, we occupy our time with things that crowd out time we could be spending with our heavenly Father. We allow the busyness of life and our desire for human entertainment to keep our focus off the most important thing we need to nurture−our relationship with Christ. Let’s not be deceived. If we’re going to walk the Christian walk, our faith must be grounded in truth. Truth can never take a back seat to what feels right or to what we might prefer. God’s Word must truly be a light to our path. This happens as the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds and conforms our hearts to follow God’s leading.

There are many false teachings that conflict with the gospel of grace. There are also many things that happen in life that challenge our faith and shake us to the core, things that don’t seem to align with our vision of God. That’s why our vision of God must be rooted, not in our perceptions, but in truth. And that’s why we must seek God with energy and passion, so we can live out the gospel and lean on its truth in both good times and bad.

“…seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:9-10)

Paul’s letters always contained both theological and practical components to them. After correcting their misplaced theology about Christ, Paul dealt in a very practical manner with those in the church at Colossae. For some, the practices of their lives before they were saved were still present. Paul challenged them to bring these practices in line with their new identity in Christ.

As we prepare for the New Year and look forward to what lies ahead, I guess it’s only natural to think back on the one that’s ending. Doing so may bring joy, perhaps sadness, or maybe a little bit of both. I imagine it also comes with a certain amount of regret. There are always things we wish we had done and said that we didn’t, and things we did and said that we wish we hadn’t. The truth is, we are all sinners and from year to year, sin will be a constant companion. But in His grace and mercy, through Jesus, God has dealt with our sin.

The Christian life is a process, not a process in the sense that we are progressively being saved over time. We are saved the moment we place our faith in Jesus Christ. The Christian life is a process in the sense that over time, we become more and more like Christ. This is known as progressive sanctification.

In this life we will always be less than perfect, but we have a Savior who is perfect. And although our conformity to the image of Christ will not end until we go to be with the Lord, our guilt does. This doesn’t mean we are to make light of sin. Paul didn’t in writing to the Colossians or anyone else. All sin matters to God. He is a holy God and He calls us to be holy as well (1 Peter 1:15). But often is the case that instead of letting our failures of the past instruct us moving forward, we end up consumed with guilt. This is not God’s intention as it denies the perfect sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. Though we live the consequences of our sin, its penalty was paid in full at the cross.

So, when you look to this upcoming year, look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Thank Him for His forgiveness. Thank Him for His faithfulness. Thank Him for His grace. Thank Him for His mercy. Embrace everything He has for your life. Know that He is more interested in your present and future than He is your past. But most of all, remember, there is no one who loves you like He loves you.

“Whoever says ‘I know him’ but fails to keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4)

The other day, a friend of mine shared an interesting quote with me. I’m not sure where it originated, but it read “Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.” I’ll admit, the quote was quite convicting as I know there have been many times in my life where my actions have failed to reflect my profession, times when instead of pushing people toward Christ, I perhaps turned them away from Him.

The Bible is quite clear about the appropriate response to God’s grace in salvation. The apostle Paul addressed it. Answering the question as to whether one should remain in sin so grace may abound, he said, “By no means. How can we who died to sin live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). The apostle Peter addressed it writing, “He [Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). And the apostle John addressed it. In 1 John 2:3, he writes, “And by this we know that we have come to know him [Jesus], if we keep his commandments”. He followed that up in the next verse writing that whoever claims to know Christ but doesn’t keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in them (1 John 2:4). In 1 John 3:9, he writes “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God”. In his commentary on this text, John MacArthur says “the apostle John presents two external tests that demonstrate salvation: doctrinal and moral. The doctrinal test consists of professing a proper view of Christ and sin, while the moral test consists of obedience and love.” Those genuinely born again, MacArthur says, display the habit of obedience. The apostle John even quoted Jesus who said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Bottom line: The proof that we know and love God is not in our profession, but in our obedience.

Unfortunately, the whole idea of submission and obedience to the will of God has gotten lost in our culture today. There seems to be this thought that because Christ died for sin, we can live any way we please. Nowhere does the Bible teach that. Nowhere does it teach that forgiveness removes the obligation to obey the commands of God. Obedience isn’t what makes us right with God, but a heart transformed by the gospel shows itself in a changed life. The truth is, those touched by God’s grace have as their highest goal to obey Him. Sure, we slip and slide in our Christian walk, and yes, God’s grace is greater than our sin, but the cross isn’t a “permission slip” to sin more. Rather, it’s an act of love that should motivate us to humbly submit to God’s will. This is the heart of the believer. A profession without a pattern of obedience is a hollow testimony of true conversion. Let us never take for granted what Christ did on the cross. Instead, let it motivate us to honor Him in everything we do. Remember, others are watching. What is your life saying to them?

“but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)

One of the things I’ve always loved about Dan, our music minister at Hunter Street Baptist Church, is that as he prepares us to lead worship on Sunday mornings, I sense he’s more interested in our internalizing the truth of a song we’re singing than he is about how well we sing it. That’s not to say he’s not interested in us leading well and sounding good because he is. In fact, he’s taught us that how we prepare and lead brings glory to God. Sometimes at choir practice, Dan will take the lyrics of a song we’re working on and exposit its meaning and application for our lives. I love when he does that. At other times, perhaps pondering the lyrics of a song himself, you might hear him say, “Now that song will preach”. On this particular night he did the latter. Not that every song doesn’t or shouldn’t “preach”, but on this night and with this song it was especially so.

We had begun working on a song called And Can It Be. Though the song’s lyrics touch on many doctrines found in Scripture, more broadly, it’s about Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sin that guarantees the eternal security of the believer. In his book Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem defines the atonement as the work Christ did in His life and death to earn our salvation. Scripture points to two causes for the atonement: God’s love (John 3:16) and God’s justice (Romans 3:25). That God would sacrifice His Son for our sin, and that Christ would willingly be that sacrifice is an amazing truth. Grudem expresses well its application for believers, writing, “The New Testament emphasis on the completion and the finality of Christ’s sacrifice of himself for us assures us that there is no penalty for sin left for us to pay. The penalty has entirely been paid by Christ, and we should have no remaining fear of condemnation or punishment”.

I’m thankful for the emphasis Hunter Street puts on having a correct theology and for the many opportunities we as members have to grow in our knowledge of God and the doctrines found in Scripture. One of those ways has been to study through books such as Systematic Theology. Granted this book is deep and covers a lot of topics that’ll make your head spin, but God uses studies like these to help us grow in our faith. He used it to help me grow in mine. I still remember studying through this book with a group of men. I especially remember the night we studied through the chapter on the atonement and the impact it had on me. I don’t know about you, but there’s a lot in my past, and my present as well that makes me cringe. It’s easy to get trapped by our sin, believing that God can’t or won’t forgive us. Understanding the implications of the atonement helped to free me from that trap. God’s grace truly is greater than our sin. Knowing that Jesus hung on the cross as my substitute, that He willingly paid the penalty for my sin, that He bore the wrath of the Father, that His blood purchased my freedom, and that I will spend eternity with Him, blows my mind. If you’ve trusted in Christ, He’s done that for you as well. Praise God!

Correct theology helps us to live a life that brings glory to God, glory that He alone deserves. Let me encourage you to find a church that is committed to the truth of Scripture. I’m sure thankful for my church’s unwavering commitment to biblical truth. And I’m thankful for a music minister who also teaches and helps reinforce that truth in songs such as And Can It Be. What a great song. You should listen to it sometime, because let me just tell you, “That song will preach”.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8)

Against a lot of opposition, the apostle Paul boldly proclaimed truth. Through three missionary journeys and endless preaching, Paul’s ministry bore much fruit as many came to faith in Jesus Christ. Paul had strong relationships with the churches he founded and pastored. The church at Philippi was one of them. Founded on his second missionary journey, Paul loved this church. They proved to be faithful partners in the ministry of the gospel. He knew they had a strong foundation of faith and that their faith would persevere (Philippians 1:6). But as was always the case with Paul’s letters, once he laid out the theological basis of faith, he always followed with how to live out that faith in day to day life. And that exactly what he’s doing in Philippians 4, exhorting and encouraging them to be mindful of what they allow to influence their thinking. He writes to them saying, “Finally, brothers, whatever is…

True – genuine, reliable, trustworthy, valid

Honorable – worthy of respect

Just – right, righteous or upright. In the New Testament “just” refers to God’s proper standards and actions.

Pure – innocent, clean

Lovely – pleasing

Commendable – admirable, appealing or praiseworthy

Excellent – moral, goodness

The gospel changes things. It changes our relationship with God and secures our eternal destiny. However, never does a conversion to faith mean that we’re not to be attentive to what we allow to capture our thoughts. God’s Word must be our filter for determining truth. To live in a way that’s pleasing to God, we must set our minds on things above, not on things of the earth (Colossians 3:2). 1 Timothy 4:7 says “train yourself for godliness”. Proverbs 21:21 tells us that “whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness and honor”. Don’t think as the world thinks. Instead, think about those things that are worthy of our God.